DA to lay charges against Beaufort West mayor

The DA will lay criminal charges against Beaufort West mayor Truman Prince accusing him of “blatant” corruption.

The opposition party was in possession of a letter in which it claims Prince requested that an ANC-aligned company be given preference for a tender in exchange for a donation to the ruling party’s election campaign.

DA national spokesperson Phumzile Van Damme said the party would lay the charges on Thursday.

“This investigation will hopefully also ascertain whether the Beaufort West municipality has been subject to other instances of corruption like this during the tenure of mayor Truman Prince.

“If the ANC is truly committed to rooting out corruption as it claims it is, it will remove Truman Prince as mayor of Beaufort West pending the outcome of a full investigation,” she said.

In the letter Prince wrote: “We are an ANC-led municipality, we are therefore in need of financial injection for our 2016 Local Government Election campaign and therefore will also want to see construction companies sympathetic and having a relationship with the ANC to benefit, in order for these companies to inject funds in our election campaign process.”

It concerned the building of a skills development and trade test centre in Beaufort West.